


Coursera

by mansikka



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 03:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6313849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Cas indulge in a little online learning...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coursera

**Author's Note:**

> In the era PF – Pre Fanfic – this is what used to keep me company in the early hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep. I offer no apologies: seriously, go and take a look, it's a great website!

 

“What are you doing?”

 

The moment Dean hears Sam’s voice, what he's doing is slamming down the lid of his laptop, his face is setting in a grim expression, and Sam sees the slightest of blushes on his cheeks.

 

“Nothing.”

 

Sam slides into the seat beside him and grins.

 

“Nothing?”

 

“Nope. Beer?” Dean ends the non-conversation immediately, sliding his chair out and heading over to the fridge.

 

Sam turns his head to watch him. “I think it’s a little late to be worried about me catching you watching porn, Dean.”

 

Sam sees Dean’s shoulders tense and then drop immediately. “What are we? Thirteen?” Dean asks him gruffly, opening his beer for him and sliding it in front of him on the table before pulling off the cap on his own.

 

“You trying to tell me the last time you watched porn was when you were thirteen?”

 

Dean opens his mouth to speak but shuts it again just as quickly with a frown. “Don’t actually remember the last time,” he tells Sam, with a slight catch of surprise in his voice.

 

Sam snorts, almost losing the mouthful of beer he’s got. “Yeah.” He agrees, full of mirth. “Not like you need it any more, is it? Since Cas…”

 

Dean’s death glare cuts Sam off immediately, but he can’t help the smile that instantly follows. Sam’s right. Since Cas moved in, since he and Cas got their heads out of their asses and actually had A Conversation, there has been no need for entertainment of the porn variety whatsoever. Why would he need that, when he’s currently having the best sex of his life with someone who is just, literally, out of this world? Who actually seems to like him back just as much as he likes him?

 

It’s a strange concept, this equality in a relationship thing. The relationship itself is a stranger concept still, but only in the best kind of ways, Dean thinks to himself with a grin.

 

Sam may not be hearing Dean's internal monologue, and he'd probably be grateful for that if he knew exactly what Dean was thinking. But it's all true, nonetheless. Dean in a relationship that's whole, and fulfilling, is probably the best thing Sam thinks he's ever seen.

 

“So if you’re not watching porn. What’re you doing?”

 

“Nothing interesting.”

 

“Nothing interesting, huh? So it won’t matter if you tell me?” Sam keeps on pushing, but Dean is just shaking his head at him.

 

“Nothing, Sammy. Nothing for you to worry about.” he adds, decisively.

 

Immediately Sam’s face contorts into one of concern. “What’s wrong?”

 

Dean lets out an exasperated sigh. “Nothing, Sam! Nothing wrong at all, okay?”

 

“If there’s something we need to be researching…”

 

“Sam,” Dean laughs out in frustration, and the smile on his face goes some way to ease Sam’s concern. “There’s nothing you need to be worrying about, okay?”

 

“Dean,”

 

Sam and Dean turn as one as Cas appears at the end of the table clutching his laptop with a frown heavy on his face. He slides it down beside Dean’s and sits down heavily, reaching out absently to take a swig of Dean’s beer. “How do I respond to this?”

 

Dean leans over and looks at Cas’ screen, reading. “What? As in, what to say? Or... what’s the correct answer?”

 

Cas shoots him a smile that tells him he’s funny, and Dean grins back. “I already know the answer, Dean,” he tells him proudly. “I just wanted to clarify how to respond… correctly. Her previous messages have been somewhat… suggestive,” Cas settles for, his tone mildly troubled.

 

Dean lets out a huff and turns the screen towards him as Sam continues watching, completely bewildered.

 

“You made some online friends, Cas?” Sam asks, and Dean huffs out again, disgruntled.

 

“Friends, my ass,” he grumbles, looking up at Cas. “Can I respond to this for you?” his voice raising as he waves a hand at the screen, clearly annoyed.

 

Cas smiles again, and nods. “If you wish.” And then Dean is typing, furiously, and faster than Sam has ever thought possible for him. His frown his deep, his jaw is clenching, and Cas’ face is splitting wider.

 

“I think that effectively says I am… unavailable,” Cas says when Dean’s finished, and leans into Dean’s side in amusement.

 

“Damn right you’re not. Who does she think she is?”

 

“Dean.” Cas says again, nudging Dean’s shoulder before closing the lid of his laptop and looking over at Sam, who's clearing his throat to get their attention.

 

“So. Cas? Who was that?” Sam asks, intensely curious as Dean and Cas shoot each other a look and secret smile.

 

“Someone I am… was,” he corrects himself, smiling at Dean again, “Collaborating with.”

 

“On what?”

 

“On a project,” Dean tells him as though he wants the subject ended yet again, and abruptly starts talking instead about his plans for what he's cooking for dinner.

 

The whole thing just makes Sam even more curious. But he holds his hands up in defeat, pretending that he’s lost interest. He’ll figure out what they’re up to later, he decides, thinking it can wait a while. Especially if Dean's making his mac & cheese again.

  
***

 

It's a few days later when Sam hears music blaring from Dean's computer. It's a song he hasn't heard for years, an old blues song that he thinks he remembers his dad playing sometime when they were kids.

 

Then he hears Dean laughing, and it's a rich, earthy chuckle, the kind that means Dean's really finding something amusing.

 

“What?” Sam asks, unable to resist the lure that is an amused Dean. He watches as Dean reaches out for the laptop and lowers the volume a touch.

 

“You remember this song?”

 

Sam smiles curiously and nods. “Dad played it, right? In the car? I thought I recognised it.”

 

“Yeah,” Dean laughs again, pausing the video, wiping a hand across his face and smiling in disbelief. “God, if he knew what the lyrics meant... maybe he wouldn'tve let us listen. Although,” and Dean's laugh became a little less amused, a touch more bittersweet, as does his smile. “Maybe he would've. Not sure he'dve cared either way.”

 

“Uh...” Sam offers, sliding down next to him expectantly.

 

“The... sweep... broom*,” and Dean's off again, chuckling to himself, without giving any explanation at all.

 

Sam takes a quick glance at the laptop screen and there's a guy there, wearing this... well it looks like a Hawaiian style of shirt, only instead of being covered in palm trees it's covered in guitars. From the way the picture's paused, Sam would swear the guy had been dancing.

 

“What's this?” he asks, reaching out.

 

Immediately Dean's reaching out himself and locking the screen. “Nothing, nothing. Just something I found on Youtube,” he says, and he's so obviously lying Sam can't bring himself to call him on it. Although Sam's eyes do become fixed on the strange green mythical creature that serves as Dean's screenlock image.

 

“Hey Sam,” Dean says then, leaning back on his chair and drumming his fingers on the table. “How much truth do you think there is to the Robert Johnson legend?”

 

“Robert Johnson?” Sam asks, frowning.

 

“Yeah, you know. Robert Johnson,” Dean insists. “How he apparently met up with a demon on a crossroads along Route 66, and sold his soul so he could play guitar?”

 

“Uh...” Sam gives doubtfully, feeling out of his depth and surprised at Dean's random question.

 

“It is true,”

 

Sam and Dean turn slightly as Cas enters the room, walks over, drops a kiss on Dean's head in passing and slides down in a seat opposite them.

 

“It is?” Dean asks, sounding delighted.

 

“Yes,” Cas confirms with a small nod. “Before their meeting, Robert Johnson was... less than mediocre,” he settles for, drumming his fingers on his chin in thought. “After the meeting, his guitar playing caught the attention of many an angel. Including-”

 

“You liked it, huh?” Dean says with a fond smile, shifting forward in his seat and looking directly over at Cas as though Sam is not even there beside him. “I heard you humming along earlier,”

 

Cas smiles, blushing his confirmation. “I do. But I was going to say that Gabriel was very fond of Robert Johnson's work. When the time came for the hellhounds to... collect him,” Cas screws his nose up in distaste, “There was talk of an... intervention. It... did not happen. Obviously,” he adds in afterthought.

 

Dean bellows loudly at that, and Sam is feeling all kinds of lost.

 

“I... I could do with coffee. Want some?” he asks, seeing Cas and Dean nod in unison. He turns the corner, and hears the distinct shift of a chair against the table that means Dean is most likely leaning across it and reaching for Cas' hand. They just can't seem to stop touching, Sam thinks to himself, bemused, and a little squicked out.

 

“I discovered something very interesting about forestry practices in the Midwest just now, Dean,”

 

Sam overhears as he's replacing the coffee filter, and he shakes his head, laughing softly. _The human perception of the world they live in_ , as Cas constantly calls it, Cas finds all kinds of amusing. And every time he reads a random fact that he finds especially amusing, he retells it to them with utter glee in his voice and a look of sheer endearment on his face for the entire human race.

 

Whatever fact Cas is about to give is replaced by the distinct sound of a soft moan of appreciation, and Sam flicks on the coffee machine, willing the coffee to start percolating to drown out the noise. Perhaps that sound just now wasn't Dean just pressing across the table, he thinks to himself, already imagining and dreading what vision he's going to be walking back into.

 

Insatiable, he thinks to himself, vowing to cover his eyes when he goes back in the other room.

 

***

 

It's when he hears Dean reciting a passage from the bible that Sam really gets clued into the idea that he's missing the point somehow. Not that in their line of work hearing or reading ancient texts is anything out of the ordinary really; it's the way Dean's reading it as though he's trying to summarise it, that makes Sam really confused.

 

He rounds the corner, and Cas' fingers are paused over his own keyboard, looking over adoringly at Dean as he speaks. He also looks as though he's itching to correct him, but he isn't doing so; just smiling that contented smile that half-makes Sam want to turn around and leave.

 

“C'mon,” he says, exasperated, sitting heavily in the chair opposite them and making them both look across at him.

 

Dean and Cas shoot each other the smallest of smiles.

 

“It's nothing. Really,” Dean insists, but his smile grows shy, and a touch embarrassed.

 

Cas watches him for a moment, then nods, and turns to Sam. “Dean and I have enrolled on several online courses,” he tells him.

 

When Sam's eyes grow wider and absolutely brimming with disbelief, Dean joins in.

 

“It's true. Figured... it's all videos, and... online assignments... and... there's Facebook groups, and a forum, and...”

 

“You hate studying,” Sam says instantly, but no, he corrects himself. That has never been true. Dean hates studying for the sake of studying, that is a fact. But when he finds something interesting, give him a day or two, and he's practically an expert. Dean is smart, smarter than he ever gives himself credit for, Sam reminds himself with a smile. He just has to be interested in the subject in the first place.

 

“Not everything,” Dean denies, as though he's heard exactly what Sam has just been thinking to himself.

 

“So,” Sam says, to make absolutely sure. “You're studying. Willingly. Online. For fun?”

 

“I thought it would be... educational,” Cas settles for, “To discover the-”

 

“'The human perception of the world they live in',” Sam finishes for him with a smile. Dean is mouthing the phrase along too, and Cas turns to him with a look that can only be described as a pout.

 

Which Dean, naturally, has to lean over and kiss away.

 

Sam sucks in a breath that screams of patience, and waits for them to finish.

 

“So,” he begins, when he can't look elsewhere for much longer. “What are you studying?”

 

Dean clicks something on his laptop and reads out, “[Mythology](https://www.coursera.org/learn/mythology). [Ancient Greeks](https://www.coursera.org/learn/ancient-greeks). [History of rock: Part one](https://www.coursera.org/learn/history-of-rock). [The bible's prehistory, purpose and political future](https://www.coursera.org/course/biblefuture).”

 

“All that?” Sam asks, raising his eyebrows. “How'd you find the time?”

 

Dean shrugs. “Well. I only really listen to the music on the History Of Rock one,” he says, glancing back down at the screen. “And I already know most of what's being said in the Mythology and Ancient Greeks one, so, I'm not really studying them at all. More like... reminding myself,” he finishes with, cuffing an almost-embarrassed hand to the back of his neck as Cas looks over at him with pride written all over his face.

 

“And the other one. The bible one?” Sam asks, still slightly bemused by the whole thing. He watches as Dean blushes, darts his eyes over at Cas, then shrugs.

 

“Thought it might teach me a thing or two,” he offers softly.

 

Sam fights with the _aww_ that wants to escape, and clears his throat, looking over expectantly at Cas.

 

Cas nods, glancing down at his own screen. “[Animal Behaviour](https://www.coursera.org/course/animalbehav) – it is really quite amusing, actually,” he says, and it's clear from the way his lips curl up he really does find it very funny. “[Forests and humans: From the Midwest to Madagascar](https://www.coursera.org/course/forestshumans). This one is probably my favourite,” he adds, tapping an idle finger against the side of the laptop. “Also [Happiness](https://www.coursera.org/learn/happiness), and [Relationships](https://www.coursera.org/course/relationship). Because I believe we can all learn something about those things,”

 

The sappy smile Dean shoots in his direction makes Sam want to groan, but he's a good brother, so he doesn't.

 

“I also believe,” Cas says as he begins typing, “That this would be an interesting course for you, Sam.”

 

Cas types something then is spinning his laptop around for Sam to look at. He sees the title: [A Law Student's Toolkit](https://www.coursera.org/learn/law-student), clicks around at some of the icons on the screen, and watches the introduction video with interest.

 

“I can show you how to set up an account if you would like,” Cas tells him softly.

 

Sam catches the pleading look in Dean's eyes that says _please let him_ , swallows hard around the smile he feels desperate to let escape, and nods. “That'd be great actually, Cas, thanks.”

 

Cas huffs, pleased with himself, spins the laptop back around, and begins to type.

 

 

  
_*I believe I'll dust my broom, by Robert Johnson_


End file.
